Amaravathi: A case was filed with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on April 10, 2026, in connection with the alleged human rights violation against the Boya Valmiki community in Boyapalem village of Kanigiri municipality in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed the systematic destruction of the Boya Valmiki community’s 200-year-old traditional burial ground located in Survey Number 554 of the municipality.
Local municipal authorities have reportedly halted the burial of a deceased woman from the community named Choppaarapu Anjamma on March 19, forcing the grieving family to cremate her in a dumping yard.
The following day, the alleged encroachers operating under heavy police protection utilised earthmovers to indiscriminately excavate the graveyard.
The brutal action resulted in the exhumation of ancestral skeletal remains, deeply wounding the community’s religious sentiments. When the community protested, the police allegedly responded with an unprovoked lathi-charge and arbitrarily imposed prohibitory orders.
Taking a strong stand against the incident, Advocate Damera Vinodkumar escalated the matter with an urgent petition to the NHRC. Following the NHRC’s case registration, Vinodkumar continues to demand a thorough independent inquiry, strict First-Information-Reports (FIR) against the errant police, revenue, and municipal officials, and adequate compensation for the affected victims.
